Tuesday, April 12, 2016

#atozchallenge: J is for Jugo

This year I traveled to Cuba. You know, it's that little island that's spitting distance from Florida and should not be visited without special dispensation. I wanted to see it before MacDonald's arrived. I'm so glad I did. I learned a lot and I met some wonderful people. It seems they like us. Now there's a change!I'll add a short T/F quiz to each post the same as I did last year about Burma, and I'll post the answers to the questions the following day.

Answer (only one question this time) to your T/F Quiz for I

TRUE: Cuba's considered part of North America because of where it's situated geographically, but Latin American when it come to culture. We're so close geographically, but this is a Latin country from top to bottom. They speak Spanish. Their food has a very Latin flair and their music is all about guitars and rhythm Latin style.

J is for Jugo

A sugarcane smasher. This juice is called Guarapo

Jugo fantastico inside a Cuban orange

One thing about Cuba is you need lots to drink--cold, fresh, and definitely involving RUM and often smashed cane sugar. So Jugo was the drink of the day. Jugo means juice in Spanish, but the juice was as varied as any Costco shelf in the U.S. I can't remember the names of all of the local drinks, but I do remember how they tasted. Good.

Your T/F Quiz for J:1. The U.S. imports tons of Cuban sugar each year.2. Rum is made from rum berries grown in the Caribbean. Answers tomorrow.

I could use me some jugo about now... I'm saying false to both questions. Hasn't there's been a trade embargo on Cuba for a while? We can't get cigars, why/how would we get sugar? As for rum, since it's also made in the Virgin Islands, I know what it's made of and it ain't berries!

Very cool. I grew my own sugar cane last year and got to juice it at a friend's house who had a sugar cane juice grinder or masher or guarapo. I wanted to blog about it, but it's on the "to do list." How interesting to know they make sugar cane juice in Cuba too! It's popular in Hawaii, at least in organic juice shops and farmers markets. Maui Jungalow